MORE DODGERS

The white flag, a universal symbol of surrender, has somehow become a statement of showmanship and a perceived advantage for the Dodger Stadium fans this postseason.

Which makes no sense, no matter how you want to run that Mickey Mouse idea up the flagpole.

Every ticket holder is given a MLB-certified and licensed towel as they enter the stadium for a Dodgers 2013 playoff game. It’s not for sanitary reasons. It’s simply to wave. Hopefully, replacing “The Wave.”

Monday, it was white, emblazoned with a blue “LA” interlocking logo and a patch commemorating the postseason.

For Tuesday’s game, it was a solid blue motif.

A error in judgment? Vin Scully thought so when he addressed it on the radio broadcast in the second inning.

“It doesn’t have the same effect (as the white towels),” he said. “It’s like playing golf with a green ball. You just lose it.”

Wednesday, they’re going back to white. Perhaps too late.

Even those who are obviously St. Louis Cardinals fans complete with jerseys, caps and a purely Midwestern wide-eyed awe are given towels when they enter the park. Watch how fast they stuff ‘em in their pockets. There has to be some eBay value somewhere.

During Monday’s Game 3 National League Championship Series broadcast, TBS analyst Cal Ripken Jr. wondered if the white towels affected the Cardinals outfielders, who seemed to have problems all night judging fly balls in key situations — such as the double that Mark Ellis dropped between John Jay and Carlos Beltran that started a two-run rally in the bottom of the fourth.

“Sometimes, it’s a lights issue with a stadium, but sometimes a ball can get lost in these fans,” Ripken said. “Everyone’s waving white towels. It’s quite conceivable you’re not tracking the white ball well in this stadium. That’s definitely a home-field advantage.”

Except when Ellis hit his fly ball to lead off the inning, the towel-waving came afterward, with an outburst of celebration.

Maybe they’ve already forgotten that during Games 1 and 2 in St. Louis, fans at Busch Stadium twirled white towels to their advantage as well. Maybe Andre Ethier lost that Beltran drive to center field because of ... naw.

This is the kind of stuff that Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright famously complained about back in 2009 during the NL Division Series. Why again did Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday lose a soft line drive hit by James Loney with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 2 that started an improbable rally and led to a three-game Dodgers sweep?

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“He lost the ball in 50,000 white towels shaking in front of his face,” Wainwright griped back then. “It doesn’t really seem fair that opposing teams should be able to shake white towels when there’s a white baseball flying in the air. Dodger blue towels, how about that?”

How about what happened Tuesday? Holliday didn’t seem distracted when he hit a ball beyond the Dodgers bullpen for a 3-0 Cardinals lead.

Why give “rally towels’ out in the first place? So what if fans feel they deserve some extra token of appreciation, another playoff perk to show their friends and prove their attendance.

Dodger fans have become much more engaged in these postseason games, without any need of pandering or prompting. Not even from a guy who dressed up in a giant “Ted” bear outfit who did the splits on the top of the Cardinals dugout roof in the eighth inning of Game 3 — right in front of Dustin Hoffman — before he was escorted out by security.

Check out that video adaption of The White Stripes song, “Seven Nation Army” that resonates more at the stadium these days. Those pulsating bass guitar riffs accompanied by an edgy black-and-white (and a touch of blue) video show hands clapping, then Dodger player images and the “L.A.” logo moving in a rhythmic procession toward the camera.

It’s been so effective, fans record it on their smart phones off the outfield video screens and put them up on YouTube.

Want to be original? Go more Jack White, less white towels. It’s already made “Don’t Stop Believin’” so 2012.